Gripping shoe-sole



. Invention UNITED STATES;

HENRY c. EGEMON, or R1DGEwooD,.-NEW :rmvsnvrn GRIPPING sHoE-soLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

kPatented sept. 14., 1920.

Application led October 1, 1918.v Serial No. 256,369.

To all whom it may concern.' A y Be it known that I, HENRY C. EGERTON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Ridgewood, county of Bergen,'State of New Jersey, have made a certain new and useful Relating to Gripping Shoe-Soles, of which the following is a specification,` taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, which forms part of the same.

This invention relates especially to gripping rubber shoe sole elements, such as separate soles or heels or shoe soles having attached or integral heel portions which are provided with gripping aperturesor holes of the golf cup type and in which 'these gripping apertures are provided with reinforcing members or cups embedded in and united to the sole4 composition and compriswith and ing fibrous 4 material impregnated phenolic stiifened by cured incorporated .condensation cementing material. Suchcups or members which may of course have.I a

:round or othersuitable outline on the wear-f ing surface ofthe sole, may be formed of any suitable fibrous material, such as cloth,

.paper, chopped lengths of more or lesswound or shaped cotton or other fiber, paper pulp or the like carrying or more or less impregnated withsuitable phenolic condensation cementing material, such, for instance, as bakelite, condensite or redm'anol varnish compositions so that when cured the reinforcing members4 are greatly stiifened and strengthened so as to resist wear or deformation and preserve the shape of these gripping apertures so that the shoe solev element continues to effectively grip the ground. Where, as is sometinie desirable, the shoe soleis provided withY an incorporated stiffcovered` by ening element o r layer of fabric or fibrous material carrying such cured phenolic condensation cementing material of the type my co-pending application 244,340, filed July l, l1918, itis in some 'cases desirable'to more strongly secure the apery ture reinforcing member inpositionin tlre sole element and this can be done by more or less directly cementing it to the main stifener memberorsheet by bringing-the two surfaces'togetherso that the incorpo-- rated phenolic condensation cementing material may strongly unite them. For some purposes, however, it is' preferable to have atleast some relative movement between these parts so as ,to somewhat cushionv the 'impacts to which the reinforcing cup is subjected and this may be secured by4 interposing a greateror less thickness of the rubber sole composition between these two relatively sti strong members. It is usually preferable to have' the inner surfaces of these reinforcing cups or members of a somewhat flaring or conical shape so as to promote their self-clearing action in facilitating the dropping or discharge of dirtz therefrom and this self-clearing action may Abe promoted by giving the reinforcing cups a smooth. inner surface which may be effected by the use of a smooth molding plug or member therein when the final curingtreatment occurs. In the accompanying drawing showin in a somewhat diagrammatic way various il ustrative embodiments of'this invention,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoe sole member,` parts being shown in 'section for greater clearness. Fig. 2 isv an venlarged transverse sectionl showing a part of such a lsole member and the coperatin g mold sectionsv which maybe used for forming the same; and

Figs.. 3 to 8 show similarly enlarged'sections illustrating different forms of Suchre- .inforcing cups or members and arrangey ments thereof within the shoe sole elements. A

"AsA indicated in Fig. l, the shoe sole ele- `ment l may in some cases though not "necesatv sarily comprise a sole and integral heel.

which may have 'a wearing surface 7 of rubber or other suitable composition, such as a lstrong rubber sole composition which may for some purposes be 'of relatively pure l strong rubber, such as tire stock, in which more orv less short 'fibrous material may be incorporated, if desired. This rubber sole 7 may, if desired, be stiffened and strengthened by being permanently cemented fto a stifl'ening member adjacent-oneside of the sole element and which may compriseone or more sheets or layers v2, 3 of canvas or' other suitable fabric carrying or impregnated with phenolic condensation cementing material such as bakelite varnish. If desired, this sole stiifener member may be pre'- viously provided with a frictioned coating 9 of rubber so as to promote its adherence to the. rubber sole element 7 when it is vulcansired also the edge or attaching portions 8 of this stiffener member may as indicated Fig. 2 be of relativelyless thickness and containl a correspondingly less proportion of such phenolic condensation cementing ized thereto in the shaping-molds. If dei reinforcing members 4 porating in the adjacent portions of the shoe terial containing sufficient curedl phenolic terial may contain thirty more or less of such cured phenolic con-i sole elementl reinforcing members or cups comprising one or more layers or thlcknesses of canvas or other fabric or fibrous macondensation cementing material. so as to make the'cup 'relatively strong and rigid and correspondingly'resistant to wear.' For this purpose the fabric or other fibrous mato sixty per cent.

densation cementing material and about .fifty per cent. thereof when incorporated in canvas or. generally similar fabric give good results. In thisway theedges of these gripping holes or aperturesmay be maintained without undesirable deformation andy the gripping maintained for aA correspondingly longer period of service.. As'indicated-in-Figs. 1 and 2 these gripping apertures which may be arranged as desired throughout thesole or heel portion or both, may be providedwith which may comprise several layers, '6, of suitableffabric vcemented together and stiffen'ed by such phenolic condensation cementd I ing material. For this purpose one or more layers of canvas or heavyknit cotton fabric which is sometimes preferable because of its greater elastic or yielding action may be coated `or impregnated with bakelite varnish No. 1, for instance, vand then substantiallyl `dried and shaped up into the desired form preferably after heating to soften.tl`1efin-' corporated cementing material and make the fabric -more pliable and yielding. In

this way the reinforcing members or cups.'

may be stamped up into -the more or1- less tops,

cup-shaped form indicated in F ig. A 2, for instance, and cut or trimmed off Aaround the the preliminary heating of the fabricmay act suficiently to at least partly cure the `cementing material, Aalthough when a considerable proportion of such cementing mais sufficiently stiff vwhen cold so asto substantiallyjretain the shape given to such an article v Without any considerable `amount of. such curing action.; lIf desired, ,the outer sheet or layer 6 'of-this fabricimay be previously provided with a frictjinedf 14 in the usual way before coating of rubber be given an unusually ranged `therein and action of the'shoe sole elementof general cup form.

ltween'the bottom 25"of some flaring( or conical and if desired, the heat of the molds or stantial the phenolic vcondensation cementing .material is applied to this layer of fabric, or if desired, the inner layer 6 of fabric may heavy coating of such cementing material which during the pre# liminary heating, moldingand shaping of' the reinforcing cups or members' may be forced sufficiently into the outer layer of fabric to hold the two together until they are molded into and permanently secured to the shoe sole element. This may be effectively donewhen the shoe'sole is molded and vulcanized and as indicated in F ig. 2

the main stiffener member comprisinglthe fabric layers 2, 3, may be`simultan`eously united to the shoe sole element 7 at this time. By forming this unvulcanized shoe sole element with holes of about thedesired shape, the reinforcing cups 4 may be arsuitable mold plugson elements 12 formed on the upper mold'element 10 indicated in a somewhat diagrammatic way as coperating with the lower mold section 11 in Fig. 2.

These moldsfare of .course heated in any suitable-Way to the desired vuleanizing tem'- perature of 250 to 300? F. more or less and byA a vulcanizing and curing treatment of half an hour or an hour or so atsuch-temperatures the vulcanized rubber isthoroughly vulcanized and simultaneously united to the `frictional rubber coatings 14, 9 on ythe -stiffening and reinforcing members and the incorporated phenolic condensation cementlng material 1n these members 1s simultane ously cured so that'xthe entire shoe sole element is strongly cemented-together so as to form practically anintegral piece. -As shown in Fig. 2, a relatively thin cushion` Y ing layer of rubber 26 :may be arranged beor all of the reinforcingI cups and the main stif'lening member Aof the sole so as to somewhat cushion any l the reinforcing cups'w'hich is advantageousv for some kinds of service. ,The- Walls of Athe reinforcing cups maybe given a somewhat shape asindicated and it isv usually desirable to havethe mold plugl 12 fitting therein smoothly polished so as to ing cups and prevent dirt or other. subthen forced home by 85.

impact orv strongflocal pressure on stances' from sticking therein so as 'to promote the lself-clearing"action of these cups which makes more effective the gripping action on the groundl y y The inclination of the walls of these reinforcing cups may ofcourse be varied to suit different conditions and-Fig. 3 shows an arrangement in which the cup Wallsare considerably straighter and in which the bottom 1 5-- of the reinforcing cup is shown in subcontact With the main stiffener vmember of the rubber shoelsoleelement 7 4Whenl both, these reinforcing and' stiifening ele- .way in the vcement these' two parts together secure the reinforcing cup to in member. This gives an especially strong m when as much as 50 or 60 per cent. of suoli phenolic condensation cementing material gripl to the shoe sole element'particularly y weight is present in the canvas or other cotton fabric used for the stifening and reinforcing members. form of reinforcing cup stantially hemispherical shape. The two l layers 5, 6 of impregnated or coated cloth menting or other fabric may be similarly provided with a frictioned or other rubber coating 14 on the outside to facilitate union with the rubber composition sole element 7 in which the reinforcing cups are embedded andV if desired the rounded bottom 16 of this cup may be forced adjacent to or into substantial engagement with the main sole stiffener -member 2, 3, so as to be firmly cemented thereto, if desired.

Fig. 5 shows another arrangement in which Vthe reinforcing cup-20 is formed of one or two layers of cloth or other fabric or fibrous material 5, 6, carryingl or impregnated-A with such. phenolic condensation vce'- menting material and in this case the reinforcing cup does not have Aany bottom, but

the conical sides may as indicated be di' rectly cemented or 'secured to themain sole stiffeningv member so that theymay be c'emented to the upper layer 3 thereof by the action of such phenolic condensation cematerial in the curing and vulcanizing mold, if desired. In this case the upper layer 3 of the main stifening member forms the bottom '18 -of this reinforced gripping aperture, the whole interior of which may be given a smoo'th surface and rounded contour at the junction of these two elements by correspondingly shaping and surfacing the molding plug forced into the same during the heat curing treatment, Fig. 6 indicates another arrangement in which the reinforcing member 21 has substantiallyv cylindrical walls and is directly cemented tothe 'main braided tubular fabric, such ton hose fabric, for instance, which may ad'` vantageously be sole stidening member. Such a -reinforcing member, may, ifv desired, be formed of as'braided cotof roughirregular contourv in some4 cases. This reinforcing' member may be conveniently provided with a frictioned or other rubber coating 14 on its 'out-` side and then suitably coated and preferably thoroughly impregnated with-such phe nolic condensation-eementing material and 'cut into lengths substantially equal to the Fig. 4 shows another 13 which has a subi l ing cured thickness of the rubber sole Acomposition into lwhich it is forced during the molding and 'curing of the sole so that its lower edge may thus be cemented to the sole stiffening member and smooth' walls and bottom 19 provided for this grippingaperture while the exposed edge 22offthe reinforcing member may be substantially flush with the wearing l surface of the sole element.

Fig. 7 shows another arrangement in which a rubber or other composition sole 17 may be'provided withva reinforcing cup 23 sition when the latter is vulcanized' preferably in connection with a frictioned or vother rubber coating 14 which may, if desired, be previously applied to the reinforcing cup. Such a rubber coating is not, however, necessary in all cases, since when the molding and heat curing is effected under heavy pressure the heat seems to lfirst soften and melt the phenolic condensation cementing material sufficiently -so that therubber in contact@ therewith forces its way sufficiently into the fibers and interstices of the fabric so as to strongly adhere thereto ,and give asufficiently reliable union of the parts especially if the reinforcing cup has the rather rough or` irregular outer surface which can be easily provided by the use of a proper grade o f fabric.v

Fig. 8 shows a somewhat ,similar arrangement in which a substantially hemispherical type of reinforcing member 24 is directly secured-'or vulcanized into the rubber vcomposition'sole element 17 which may in this inlstance also have no other stiffening or reinforcing member secured thereto'. 'This reinforcing cup is of :generally similar.y form and construction to the one illustrated in Fig. 4 and described in connection therewith.

This invention has been described in c`onnectionwith a number of illustrative embodiments, forms,l proportions, elements,

parts, shapes,` materials, compositions, and methods of preparation, production and use, to the details of which disclosure the invention is not of course to be limited, since what is claimed as new and what is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is set forth in the vappended claims: il r l 1. The'vulca'nized shoe sole element comprising a heel portion and provided with a stiffener. member of fibrous material carryand stiffening material secured adjacent one surface of the shoe sole' element, said element being formed withv a series of. ground gripning apertures and reinforcing cups secured in said sole element and forming the walls of -said apertures and each comprising a plurality of layers of knit fabric carrying phenolic condensation cementing A`30 to 60 per `cent. o f cured phenolic consaid reinforcing cups having substantially densation cementing and stiffening material,

Smooth inner surfaces and flaring Walls to promote their self-clearing action, the bottoms of said cups being secured adjacent to 'said' stiffener memberand Iseparated therefrom by a cushioning rubber layer.

2. The vulcanized rubber shoe sole element comprising a heel portion and provided With a stiffener member of fibrous material carryingl cured phenolic condensation cementing and stiffening material secured adjacent one surface of the shoe sole element, said element l their self-clearing action, the bottom of said vmember andseparated therefrom ioning rubber layer.

cups being secured adjacent -to said stiifener by a cush- 3. The vulcanized rubber shoe sole element comprising a heel portion and provided with a stiffener member of fibrous material carrying cured phenolic condensation cementing.

and stiffeningmaterial secured adj acentone surface of the shoe sole element, said element being formed With a series of ground. gripping apertures and reinforcing cups secured.

in'said vs ole element and forming the Walls of sald Vapertures and each comprising fabric carrying cured phenolic condensation cementing and stiffening material, said rein! forcing cups having substantially smoothinner surfaces to promote their self-clearing action,A the bottoms of said cups being secured adjacent to said stifiener member.

` 4. The rubber shoe sole element comprising aheel portion andprovided With a stiffener member secured adjacent one surface of the shoe sole element, said element being formed With a series of ground gripping apertures and reinforcing cups secured in said sole element and forming the Walls ofl 'said apertures and each comprising a plurality 'of layers 4of fabric carrying 'cured phenolic condensation cementing and stiffenlng materlal, said relnforclng cups' having flaring Walls to promote their self-clear- .ing action, the bottoms of said cupsbeing se- ,lcurd adjacent to f said stiffener member.

5. The rubber shoe sole ,element provided with a stiffener member vsecured adjacent onesurface of the shoesole element, said element being formed With a series of ground gripping apertures and reinforcing cups se- 'cured in said sole element and formingthe Walls of said apertures and each comprising aplurality of layers .of fabric carrying cured phenolic condensation vcementing and '-stiffening material, said .reinforcing cups having Haring Walls to' promote their selfclearingaction.

6. They rubber shoe sole element provided i With a stiffener member secured adjacent one surface of the shoe sole element, said element being' formed with a series ofV ground gripping apertures and open ended rein-.

with a stiffener member and formed With av series of ground gripping apertures and apertured reinforcing v'members secured in said sole element and forming the Walls of said apertures and each comprising fibrous material carrying cured phenolic condensation cementing and stifi'ening material, said reinforcing members having flaring substantially conical Walls to' promote their selfclearing action, the bottoms of said mem` bers being secured adjacent to said member.

8. The rubber shoe sole element provided With a stifl'ener member and formed with a series of ground gripping apertures. and

apertured reinforcing members secured in said sole element and'forming the Walls of said apertures and each comprising fibrous stiffener material carrying cured phenolic condensation cementing and stiffening-material, tne

bottoms of said members being secured ad- A jacent to said stiffener member.

9. The-rubber shoe sole element formed with a series of ground grippingapertures and apertured reinforcing members secured in said apertures' and each' comprising fibrous material carrying cured phenolic condensation cementing and stiffening -ma- .teriaL u 10. The rubber composition shoe sole element formed with a series of ground gripping'apertures and reinforcing, cups secured in said sole element and forming the Walls of said apertures and comprising fabric carrying' cured phenolic condensation cementing and stiffening material, said reinforcing cups having substantially smooth their self-clearingation. I Vvl1. The' rubber'composition shoe sole element formed witha series of ground gripping apertures .and apertured' reinforcing memberS'seCured in said sole element and forming the Walls, of said apertures and comprising cured phenolic condensation inner surfaces and flaring Walls to promote cementing and stiffening material, said reinforcing members having Haring wjalls to promote theirself-clearing action. 'l 12. T-hejv composition shoe sole `element Iformed with a series of ground gripping apertures and' apertured reinforcing mem bers secured -in said apertures and comprising fabric carrying cured phenolic condensa'- tion cementing and 'stiffening material;

13. The rubber shoe sole element provided with a stiffener member carrying cured phenolic condensation cementing and st ffen- .ing fibrous material, said elementbeing -formed with a series' of ground gripping apertures and apertured outwardly aring' ,carrying cured phenolic condensation ce.-

Inenting and stifening material, the bottoms of said membersbeing secured' adjacent to said stilfenermember..l

14. The rubber shoe sole eler'nentprovided with a stifener member, said element being formed with a series of ground gripping apertures and apertured reinforcing' members secured in said' sole element and formening material.

- HENRY C. EGERTON. 

